The Gigabeat X was released in limited markets and may be difficult to find.

Subjective Discussion

Of the currently available targets where recording is working, only the iriver h10, h100 and h300 series and the Sansa e200 and c200 series support recording without additional hardware. The iAudio X5 and M3 can record from radio/internal microphone out of the box, but line-in can only be connected through the subpack which is included. The iAudio M5 also needs the subpack for a line-in connection but here the subpack is not included, other than that one can record from the built-in microphone. The iPods have line-in via the dock connector and a custom cable is required to access it. In addition, the iPod recording code is still in an early stage in Rockbox and is not suitable for serious use.

The best screen available is probably that on the iPod 5.5 generation. The ones on the Gigabeats look good too, but are completely black with the backlight off.

The Gigabeat X was sold primarily in Asia and Australia, and is rather difficult to find in the United States and Europe. However, it is (hardware-wise) similar the easier-to-find Gigabeat F. The only differences are a slightly larger LCD, ZIF connector for the hard drive, and smaller body style.

The iPod Video 80GB is going to get you the most bang for your buck in terms of storage size.

The listed storage sizes for the Sansa e200 and c200 series is for the internal flash; the storage on these players can be expanded with a MicroSD card. Both players support MicroSD and MicroSDHC cards up to 32GB in size.

The M5 L gives you the best runtime and contrary to the X5, the iAudio M5s do not depend on the subpack for copying data or charging. It has a standard USB port there where the USB host port on an iAudio X5 would be (hence no USB host function).

Of all the models, the iriver h100 series has the most (standard) audio connections.

The iriver h100 series is also the only player with optical connections, having both input and output.

Sansa e200/c200 v1 and v2 models are distinguished by the System > Info, Version number: v1 version 1.x.x, v2 version 3.x.x.